Andrey Rublev vs Hubert Hurkacz Prediction – Tennis Picks 10-15-2023

Fifth seed Andrey Rublev will face 16th seed Hubert Hurkacz in the final of the 2023 Shanghai Masters. The match will be played on Sunday, October 15, 2023.

We’ve reached finals day at the 2023 Shanghai Masters, and perhaps not the match we expected at the start of the tournament over a week ago. But both Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz have earned the right to content for the penultimate ATP 1000 on the calendar. Rublev will be aiming to lift his second Masters title after he shockingly won in Monte Carlo during the European clay swing in Monaco. Unlike his run at the Principality in April, Rublev has been so assured in Shanghai in his run to the final. He didn’t drop a single set and has won three 7-5 sets. Saturday’s 7-6, 6-3 win over Grigor Dimitrov was a physically draining match with the first set lasting 76 minutes in which the Russian fend off a set point.

Hubert Hurkacz, for his part, is also gunning for a second Masters title after he won in Miami a couple of seasons ago. The tall Pole entered the 2023 Shanghai Masters as the 16th seed but has defied pre-tournament predictions to reach the final, taking advantage of a kind draw, in which the highest-ranked player he faced before the final was World No. 26 Sebastian Korda. 

Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz have played four times on Tour, with the head-to-head currently split at 2-2. These two players just don’t play dull affairs. Two of their three hard-court meetings have gone the distance. It’s been quite the response by the Russian after losing in the second round at the China Open. And in the kind of form he is in, he should be the favorite in this match. Hurkacz, however, cannot be written off entirely. He’s been serving majestically all week, and I honestly feel like that serving dominance transmits seamlessly to his return game, where he’s been an absolute monster in taking the ball with immaculate timing. There’s a good chance we’ll get three sets here, which is why we’re happy to back the games spread at -112.